The Ads started things off at 5:23 while on the Mountain Fury Power Play when Juuso “I’d like to buy a vowel” Puustinen fired a centering attempt on net from the near side boards. Michael Latta was the man Puustinen was attempting to reach when it instead found the skate of the Heat D-Man Chris Breen. The puck went in to give the Ads the 1-0 lead.

Just over 2 minutes later the Ads went back on the Fury Power Play and had the same success as the first. Puustinen fired a shot on net from the slot that was initially stopped but not covered up by Heat starting (and later relief) net minder Leland Irving. Taylor Beck was there right in front of the goalie to pick up the rebound and get it past the committed Irving. The tally gave the Ads the 2-0 lead and ended the night period for Irving who, faced 3 shots and only stoping one. (Sound familiar, Atte?)

The back-up goaltender Joni Ortio barely had time to take his skate guards off before the lamp was lit and the horn made noise. Just two minutes after the change, Ortio let in the first puck sent his way. To his defense, it was a 2-on-1 break out and I dont know that any goalie would have gotten the save. Mueller and Bourque had the odd-man rush with just the Heat’s Brendan Mikkelson on defense. The Ads duo had a great tic, tac, GOAL with Mueller being the one to seal the deal.

The Heat took a time out to gather themselves. It worked. Just :17 seconds after the Ads third goal and the timeout, the Heat scored off a rebound that came from a shot at the point. Jon Rheault was the man in front that got the rebound past Jeremy Smith.

The Ads answered right back at 15:15 when Zack Stortini grinded out a goal in front of Ortio. Mark Van Guilder put a shot on net resulting in the initial stop. Stortini gathered the puck and just started swating at it, finaly beating the goalie.

Again keeping with the two minute intervals, the Heat got a goal back on a delayed penalty. With Ortio on the bench to give the Heat the extra man, Dustin “Yo Adrian” Sylvester sent a pass from the far side point to the near side crease where Paul Byron was un-defended and uncontested for the redirect goal. I guess someone forgot that there was an extra attacker. Whoops.

After all the smoke cleared on the first period, the score was 4-2 in favor of the Admirals. For those that did not pass advanced addition that is six goals. For comparison, that is as many Mountain Fury bottles as a six pack.

The Admirals wasted no time adding to the lead in the second period. The Heat decided that Irving had a long enough time out and put him back in the blue paint. He started right where he left off, letting in a goal and watching the red light flicker a sad shadow, as he grabbed a drink of some hardly earned water. With Bourque attacking the net from behind the goal line he attempted a wrap around. He fanned, and it turned into a great across-the-crease feed where Mueller finished off another goal from his linemate.

The Heat, refusing to go away quietly, tallied another goal off of a lazy backside defense taking the score to 5-3. On the power play, Byron sent a cross ice pass that was deflected by a d-man but not enough to keep it off of the stick of Sylvester who fired a shot past Smith. It was great reconigition by the Heat to find the open man down low…. Again.

The Admirals continued to make the goal judge earn his free meal and score two more in :31 seconds. Ryan Thang gets a goal off a face off win by Bourque and feed from Mueller. Then Michael Latta scored the second off a redirect that went in off his lower body. Scott Valentine had the original shot and earned his first pro point with the assist.

That is a 7-3 score after two periods, for those keeping track on your abacus.

Mueller got his hat trick goal in the 3rd period. He skated the puck in on the right wing and beat Ortio (yes there was another goalie change). Mueller scored a goal in each period, that has to be worth a bottle of Mountain Fury for sure!!!!!

– It wasn’t all peaches and cream tonight. It wasn’t all beer and pretzels. It wasn’t all frosties and oil changes. Coach says that there are definitely some things he’d like the team to improve on from this game.

– Great win for Hebrie. Obviously, based on this small sample size, Kirk Muller was holding the team back this whole time.

– With Kyle Wilson called up, and Robert Slaney unable to make it to Milwaukee in time, the team skated with 17 skaters. And ten of them skated away with at least a point.

– Mueller’s hat trick was the first since Dave Scatchard scored three in the third period of an 8-1 win over the Chicago Wolves on April 9th, 2010. And the last time the Admirals scored 8 goals was last season, January 28th, 2011 against the Peoria Rivermen. I think Blake Geoffrion had like, 12 points in that game.

– The Bourque – Mueller – Thang line is back. They’re like McRibb that way. They’re playing like they did in the playoffs last year. Hope they can keep that up.

– Oh, and we asked Herbie if he’s keeping the stache since the result ended so well tonight.

OK Roundtable — Give your best mazel tov’s to Coach Herbers’ first “Dubya” as head coach of the Admirals. And I guess talk about whatever else you want to talk about with this game. I won’t give you any more direction. Just make it happen in the comments section.

6 Responses to Herbers Wins Debut In Style

Way to go Ian!
Good shots and some crisp shifts.
Jury is still out on the dump and chase. Will it make a come back? Hope not.

The team looked razor sharp, with the exception of Ford leaving way too many Heat in front of the net, way too often, He needed to knock them down or at least give Smitty some space. I like Fordo, yet he needs to be more physical in front of the net.

Flynn gets my “The Gambler Award”

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
know when to run

He should have ran and let Stortini do the fighting, instead he got jacked. He also missed a clearing attempt that lead to a goal. He will rebound. He’s too good of a player to let this slow him down.

I’m pretty upset, that game was garbage. They scored their first 3 goals on their first 4 shots and end with 8 goals on 19 shots. They started off scoring on 75% of their shots, and ended scoring on only 42% of them. How do they expect to win consistently with those numbers?

I’m glad I sit behind the net, I felt the urge to toss my hat…but I like my hat!

If it wasn’t for that offensive barrage (terrible D/Goal play by Abbotsford), the Admirals could have easily lost that game with their terrible weakside defense. I thought having Irving shown on the scoreboard as the AHL goalie of the week was outstanding…